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Steve, we obviously differ on the cost aspect but that is a matter of opinion. Having previously worked in a regulatory capacity in a local council and reviewed reports of a similar nature, a day to do this would have been deemed excessive unless it was an exceptionally meaty document. The information would be reviewed as it was presented and I certainly would not be doing any additional work for the consultant. If we were being charged for half a day by the EA, I would say that is reasonable. Regards, Richard From: Contaminated Land Management Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Steve Wilson Sent: 15 January 2014 07:30 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Changes at the Environment Agency, namely pre-application charging Richard £590 seems reasonable to me. Often the regulator will end up doing the consultants work for them (not saying that is the case here!). By the time you have made phone calls, checked some of the information and double checked calculations, possible sketched out a few sections, checked against previosu submissions, written the letter, etc it soon adds up to 7 hours. I would be happy that they are allocating sufficient time to do a reasonable job. There is also the time filling in all the QA forms! Out of interest would SKM review a report for a client for less than £600? The other option is that we start to value our public services and fund them properly so they can do the job without recourse to things like this. Steve Wilson, UK Registered Ground Engineering Adviser Technical Director on behalf of EPG Tel 07971 277869 www.epg-ltd.co.uk<http://www.epg-ltd.co.uk> -----( Disclaimer )----- > > Information contained in this e-mail is intended for the use of the addressee only, and is confidential and may contain commercially sensitive material. Any dissemination, distribution, copying or other use of this communication, other than for which it is explicitly intended, without the permission of the sender is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please advise the sender immediately and delete it from your system. Whilst all e-mails are screened for known viruses, the company cannot accept responsibility for any which have been transmitted. From: Contaminated Land Management Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Pollard, Richard (SKM) Sent: 14 January 2014 11:59 To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Changes at the Environment Agency, namely pre-application charging I have been quoted £590 by the EA for review of an 18 page groundwater DQRA for a site near Heathrow. Based on the charges of £84/hr the EA estimate is 7 hours to review the report or put another way half an hour per page which seems excessively long for the size and complexity of the report. I have suggested the EA review their costs as clearly they should not be taking this long to dp a review and send a letter back. This work is part of a planning application which has been granted and the EA has consulted on and the DQRA was part of their request for further work. I find charging of this nature to be contrary to the EA role as a regulator and not one where we can ask for a quote by another party. What have others been quoted for review work by the EA? Regards, Richard Pollard CGeol FGS Principal Consultant - Land and Water Management [btn_profile_bluetxt_80x15]<uk.linkedin.com/pub/richard-pollard/19/555/bb7> SKM Enviros Unit 5, Meadow Court, Milshaw, Leeds, LS11 8LZ Direct T +44 113 385 8664 Office T +44 113 385 8650 M +44 7825 343 498 E [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> NB. My working days are Monday to Thursday www.skmenviros.com<http://www.globalskm.com/> Winner of three edie awards for Environmental Excellence in 2011: Best consultancy in Climate Change & Renewables; Contaminated Land & Remediation and Water & Waste Water. SKM Enviros is part of the Sinclair Knight Merz Group www.globalskm.com<http://www.globalskm.com/> From: Contaminated Land Management Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Simon Ware Sent: 12 December 2013 16:57 To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Changes at the Environment Agency, namely pre-application charging Dear all, Have just received back some information from the Agency regarding the charging for pre app consultations in the form of a "Guidance for Developers. The Environment Agency's Planning Advice November 2013", the text of which is provided below (have not as yet managed to find this document on the Agency website) "We are changing how we give you planning advice. We will continue to provide an initial free, standard level of pre-application advice to all developers regardless of the scale and complexity of the development. Where there are significant environmental issues to be resolved we will offer you a charged service for further detailed advice. We are launching this service nationally between January - March 2014. Introduction We give environmental advice to developers on planning applications for Town and Country Planning development and for nationally significant infrastructure projects (NSIPs). Our advice is for environmental issues that concern us, for example flood risk, protection of land and water quality, waste management facilities and fisheries. Our advice is part of our contribution to achieving sustainable growth. Our advice will help you to identify any serious environmental risks that you need to address in order to obtain planning permission or development consent. We can also help you to identify opportunities for environmental enhancements. We receive a large number of enquiries for free pre-application advice, most of which we respond to within 21 days - the statutory planning time limit. In some cases you may ask us for further advice. We'll now charge you when we give you further advice. Our free service Our free service is made up of standing advice and guidance that we make available on websites as well as our free advice. When you request our free advice on your proposed development we will: • Check environmental constraints from our constraint maps • Check for site specific local environmental issues that concern us • Provide a statement of any environmental issues you should consider further • Let you know about environmental permits, licences and consents that your proposed development will need from us Based on the information you have given us we will give you our 'preliminary opinion' that: • The proposed development raises no environmental issues for us, or • The proposed development raises some environmental issues that concern us and you'll need to undertake further work to show how to ensure no adverse environmental impacts, or • On environmental grounds we would object in principle to the proposed development We may offer you a meeting for complicated cases. Where we have advised you that you need further work to resolve specific environmental issues we will offer you further advice through a charging agreement. Our charged service Our charged service will help you to improve your application and to meet conditions placed on permission already granted. We may offer advice on for example mitigating the environmental impacts that concern us and opportunities for environmental enhancements. We will provide a project manager to oversee our advice, agreeing tasks and timetables with you. This is so that we can make specialists available when you need advice from them. We may provide advice on documents and plans you provide, advice on aligning planning and permitting requirements, and other specific tasks we agree. Furthermore, we may carry out desk based analysis, arrange meetings and make site visits as set out in our agreement with you. Our local Area Office will contact you to discuss the advice you want and prepare an agreement that is made up of an offer letter, a programme, and our standard terms and conditions. The programme will specify the tasks we will carry out, giving the approximate timetable and an order of cost for our advice. We use a national hourly rate, currently £84 per person per hour, for our planning advice agreements. We can vary a programme when we agree with you in writing the changes you want to make. Our agreement with you would not prejudice our statutory planning advice to a planning authority once you have formally submitted your planning application and we don't guarantee that your development will be approved. Furthermore, our agreement with you wouldn't affect decisions we make about environmental permits, other consents and licences we issue. Please contact us to find out how our charged service can help you. Contacting us To enquire about, or request, our planning advice you may: • Call our Area office that will deal with your proposed development, or • Call our national contact number 03798 506 506 (Monday - Friday, 8am to 6pm), or • E-mail us at [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> or • Post your request to: National Customer Contact Centre, PO Box 544, Rotherham S60 1BY" On 28 November 2013 14:17, Willcox, Ruth <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote: Dear all For what it's worth, our Development Enquiry Service (read pre-app consultation and advice service) works well for all parties and it is also funded by additional payment from potential planning applicants. To avoid un-necessary ant potentially embarrassing (from a regulatory point of view) conflict at later stage, I would favour a more centralised scheme where planning applicants benefit from good, all round advice. Kind regards Ruth Ruth Willcox Environmental Protection Officer Environmental Services Plymouth City Council Civic Centre Plymouth PL1 2AA T +441752304154<tel:%2B441752304154> E [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> www.plymouth.gov.uk<http://www.plymouth.gov.uk> -----Original Message----- From: Contaminated Land Management Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>] On Behalf Of Chris Dainton Sent: 28 November 2013 11:25 To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Changes at the Environment Agency, namely pre-application charging Hello Shaun Thanks for your quick reply. What a strange situation - we'd like you to comment on our proposals, but we can't tell you what our proposals are. Joseph Heller would be proud. I'll email Elizabeth Mugova. Thanks for entering into the discussion - it is appreciated. Chris Dainton Peak Environmental Solutions Limited ******************************************************************************************************************************************** IMPORTANT: This e-mail (including any attachments to it) is strictly confidential and intended solely for the person or organisation to whom it is addressed. It may contain privileged, confidential or sensitive information. If you are not the intended recipient, you must not copy or distribute it to any other person or take any action in reliance. If you have received it in error, please notify your system manager and the sender as soon as possible and then delete it from your system. -- Simon Ware (Managing Director) WDE Consulting Ltd Specialists in Waste Development and Environment Tel: (01442)825570 Mobile: (07748)653021 Website: www.wdeconsulting.co.uk<http://www.wdeconsulting.co.uk> Address: 62a Western Road, Tring, Herts, UK. HP234BB Follow us on: [Image removed by sender.] <http://www.linkedin.com/company/wde-consulting-ltd> SKM is committed to working with its clients to deliver a sustainable future for all. Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail. Notice - This message contains confidential information intended only for the exclusive use of the addressee named above. No confidentiality is waived or lost by any mistaken transmission to you. If you have received this message in error please delete the document and notify us immediately. Any opinion, text, documentation or attachment received is valid as at the date of issue only. The recipient is responsible for reviewing the status of the transferred information and should advise us immediately upon receipt of any discrepancy. All email sent to SKM will be intercepted, screened and filtered by SKM or its approved Service Providers. SKM is committed to working with its clients to deliver a sustainable future for all. Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail. Notice - This message contains confidential information intended only for the exclusive use of the addressee named above. No confidentiality is waived or lost by any mistaken transmission to you. If you have received this message in error please delete the document and notify us immediately. Any opinion, text, documentation or attachment received is valid as at the date of issue only. The recipient is responsible for reviewing the status of the transferred information and should advise us immediately upon receipt of any discrepancy. All email sent to SKM will be intercepted, screened and filtered by SKM or its approved Service Providers.